The No. 3-seeded Nuggets looked lifeless Sunday -- they have fallen apart and fallen behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series with Golden State after their Game 4 meltdown at Oracle Arena, 115-101.

In 438 best-of-seven NBA series, only eight times has a team trailed 3-1 and come back to advance. Denver will have to become the ninth to avoid missing the second round again. This was Denver's best shot to make the second round for just the second time since Carmelo Anthony was drafted in 2003. The Nuggets won 57 games. The Nuggets had the No. 3 seed and homecourt advantage. The Nuggets faced a team that lost its best low-post player, an All-Star no less.

Yes, Denver was without Danilo Gallinari (knee), butin the biggest game of the series Sunday, Denver committed a season-high 23 turnovers, while their famous flow was log-jammed. Oh and Stephen Curry was from another planet -- in fact, it seemed like he was hitting 3s from another planet. The Warriors' guard scored 31 points in only 33 minutes, making 6-of-11 3-point attempts, while tallying seven assists, as well.

What's even more bonkers to think is that the Nuggets won Game 1 on a buzzer-beating layup by Andre Miller. Otherwise, this might have been a sweep. And, really, Denver was outplayed in that game, too.

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In the regular season, the most turnovers Denver committed was 23 in an overtime game against Oklahoma City. Well, the speedy Nuggets were the sloppy Nuggets, notably in the first half, when Denver committed 14, including four by Andre Iguodala (he finished with seven). The turnovers were the difference in the first half, because the home team scored 19 points off of them.

The Nuggets could not push the basketball and penetrate the basketball. This is their game. The Nuggets only scored 36 points in the paint, while the Warriors had 48.

Curry entered the third quarter with only seven points and one field goal. Denver trailed 56-44 at halftime. And then he turned into a human NBA Jam player, hitting 3s with video game ease. It got stupid. Yes, Denver sometimes had Andre Miller defending Curry, which was about as mismatch-y as you can get, but a lot of it was just Curry being the world's best shooter. He scored 22 points in the third quarter, going 8-for-11 from the field, 5-for-8 from 3.

And how about this one? With 1:11 left in the third quarter, and Golden State already up 85-71, Curry snatched the ball from Ty Lawson and zipped down court. He swerved and headed to the top of the key, disregarding Denver defenders and hitting a 3. The yellow-clad building went bananas.

What's scary to think is, this is all happening after all-star forward David Lee went down in the first game. On Saturday, Nuggets coach George Karl was ask if it's possible Golden State is better without Lee?

"I think they're more energized to run with us because David Lee's not on the court," Karl said.

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